Trump bizarrely responds to article suggesting he criticizes black people for racist reasons

Jae C. Hong/AP

LaVar Ball.

• President Donald Trump bizarrely responded to a tweet suggesting he speaks ill of prominent black people to capitalize on racism among his base.
• Trump responded by tweeting "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN."
• Moments later, Trump tweeted the same thing but not in response, so perhaps his response to the provocative article was an error.
  

President Donald Trump offered a bizarre but familiar response to an article on the Washington Post's liberal-leaning "Plum Line" blog that suggested he criticized prominent black people to play on a racist sentiment among his base.

Responding to Greg Sargent's tweet that said "Trump regularly attacks high-profile African Americans to feed his supporters' belief that the system is rigged for minorities," Trump replied: "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN."

The exchange on Thanksgiving morning came after Trump attacked LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo Ball, one of the UCLA freshmen released from being detained in China after Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, on Twitter.

Trump called Ball an "ungrateful fool" and compared him to a "poor man's version of Don King," after Ball refused to thank Trump for his role in getting his son and the other players freed from China, where they had admitted to shoplifting from several stores.

The article by Sargent linked this to other attacks Trump has made on well-known black people in sports and politics, calling it a "gratuitously ugly pattern."

Sargent's article ends by suggesting Trump engages in a "pattern of race-baiting" that "might be designed to resonate with" his supporters.

Trump has, throughout his career, attacked dozens of politicians, media personalities, and sports stars of all races, but his response was bizarre because moments later he tweeted the exact same thing but not in response to the article.

Trump has erroneously tweeted things many times before. In late October, he wished a happy birthday to Lee Greenwood, the singer who wrote "God Bless the USA," but tagged the wrong Lee Greenwood on Twitter, instead tagging someone who had appeared to protest Trump's immigration ban.